Treatment of discomfort in intra-muscular and intra-articular areas has typically involved medications injected beneath the cutaneous surface or oral administration. Use of the blood stream to carry the medication to the discomforted area may sometimes cause undesirable side effects to areas not desired for treatment. Further, the delay of transmission of the medication into the blood stream is not conducive to rapid relief. Injection of medications directly into a joint may cause recrystallization of the medication within the joint, causing synovitis.
A direct penetration of an active ingredient medication involves percutaneous administration of the medication. The use of lower aliphatic sulfoxides in slight concentrations has been recorded in the prior art. The following table indicates those United States patents where the concentration of the lower aliphatic sulfoxide is less than 25 percent.